Young. Broke. Handy.

So homeboy and I are both gainfully employed and all settled into our apartment. It almost looks put together - thanks to my constant desire to search "home decor" on Pinterest and our garageful of power tools.

When searching for our king bed, we knew what look we wanted and we knew we didn't want something flimsy or cheap. Which left us looking at beds ranging from $1,500-2,500.

Between growing up with Bob and a few years of mission trips, I know a thing or two when it comes to carpentry. I've roofed a doublewide under the Arizona sun and drywalled a three-bedroom house in Mississippi. Jason's not so bad himself - he's superhandy and in possession of every tool known to man.   So our powers combined, we are a furniture-building power couple!

Hence, our apartment decor. First...the bed. Once we realized that we didn't want to compromise on quality OR price, we knew we had to build it from scratch. We drew up the plans, headed to the lumber yard, chose some oak and poplar, and got to work. Total price: $400 and one 15-hour day of building.

So we had a bed. But no bedside tables.  So we used the left over wood and stain to put together some bedside tables. I happen to know a guy that works with granite so we scored some pretty cool granite tops. Bingo! Total cost: fo free. Leftovers for the win!

His:

 & Hers:

The bedroom was set. But not the living room. My parents replaced all the windows in their house a couple years ago and at the time I had asked them to save a few for crafts. Welp...it was craft time. We bought some extra wood to make the legs and "box" of the coffee table, and used the windows to make the big table and two smaller side tables for the living room. Total cost for all three: $60

You can keep coffee table books and magazines inside!

But we had nowhere to put our TV because the fireplace didn't come with a mantel. We decided to make a mantel and the question was "But, how?" Jason's family friends recently had a huge cherry tree fall down in their yard so they hired some people to come cut it into planks. They had all the leftovers in their yard still, so we asked if we could steal a piece. We picked one that still had the bark on it but had a smooth cut top so it's all rustic looking. We bought some brackets, sliced it to the right size, and hung it up as-is. Total cost: $6.

So there we have it. About $466 for an oak/poplar bed and two bedside tables, a coffee table, two side tables and a mantel - seven pieces of furniture! Not bad for a couple youngins. We may be young and a little broke, but we're certainly handy.